Antarctic

A small penguin had enough of the Antarctic cold, enough of the eternal ice and the daily hunt for fresh fish. The little penguin was longing for something new, far away from his world, behind the Antarctic sea, beyond the horizon. On a bitter cold winter day, his time has come and the little penguin jumped on a floating ice floe in the sea and let himself drift across the Atlantic into the Mediterranean until he reached Thessaloniki. In the harbor of this Greek town, the little penguin searched for a safe place; he found an empty barrel of wine in front of a pub where he decided to temporarily hide away. Clouded by the smell of alcohol, the little penguin fell into a deep and long sleep and woke up again in the cellar of the wine merchant Kordopulov from Melnik in Bulgaria.

Melnik is located about 150 kilometers southwest of the Bulgarian capital Sofia and is with about 200 inhabitants the smallest city in the country. The Greek border is only 20 kilometers away. Melnik is a tourist gem. The city is best known for its sandstone pyramids and the many listed monuments, churches and monasteries from the time of the Bulgarian Renaissance. However, Melnik is all about Wine and tourists especially come to this place to taste the unique, dark red Melnik wine.

I am convinced that the little penguin has fallen in love with Melnik, there is almost always sunny weather, there is plenty of wine and the friendly and cordial people welcome their guests from near and far with open arms and a fine glass of red wine from their own vineyards. But also the menu with the many Bulgarian specialties offers a treat for every gourmet. Of course, it also has something for the little penguin. The taste of the fresh trouts from the rivers and brooks of the nearby Pirin Mountains taste so good that it seems highly unlikely that the little penguin will again return to the bitterly cold Antarctic 🙂